Pleasant Pathways Shorts, or I Need Some Basics

Hi, guys!  I hope you’ve been having a good week.

Today’s project is brought to you by the need for basics.  I’m like a lot of sewing people.  I get drawn in by the pretty, happy, shiny prints and end up with a closet full of crazy, crazy fun…that doesn’t all go together.  I also tend to make a lot of tops, because I’m still trying to get over my fear of sewing pants due to my lack of fitting knowledge.

Well, you can’t learn if you don’t try, right?  So, along with the tops, I’ve been working on shorts this summer.

This pair, however, was more of a known quantity, so I made them up earlier this summer when I went nuts sewing easier, known stuff after all the complex things I’d been doing.  I’ve made this shorts pattern before, back when I started sewing seriously, and the fit has always been great.  I never needed to alter them.  Besides the fit, the other great thing about this pattern is that it is free, free, FREE!  You can find it here.  It’s one that Anna Maria Horner made for Janome.

I still wear my first pair of shorts from this pattern (the green ones in this post).  In looking at my measurements now, I should probably grade out at the hip, but I used some stretch denim that was left over from my Ginger Jeans extravaganza, so the fit turned out great, and they’re very comfortable.

I didn’t have a navy zipper, so I used what I had, which happened to be red, but thanks to my fairly new invisible zipper foot, you can’t see the red much.  Plus…I don’t actually mind.  I like little surprising details and contrasting colors.

Someday I’d love to add pockets and maybe a waistband to this, but for now, this pattern was just what I needed as far as sewing a known pattern and something basic that fit well and matched with most things.  I highly recommend it.

So that’s it!  I hope you give these a try if you are looking for some simple shorts.

I’ve still got some summer sewing to fit in, so you’ll likely be seeing more of that here for a bit.  Summer isn’t officially over until September 22!

Recommendations

• As an art lover and a surfing…spectator, I love seeing the boards at Album Surf.  Check them out for some serious eye candy.
• I thought Hila’s Nautical Outfit turned out great!  Striking colors and patterns!
• Cotton + Steel Fabrics teamed up with Colette Patterns awhile back to explain some of the different fabric substrates they use.  If you’ve ever wanted to learn about double gauze, check it out on Cotton + Steel’s site here.
• Here’s a video about Cotton + Steel’s double gauze collection, Bespoke.  It was interesting to hear about their thought process and to learn more about double gauze itself.